Chip Tuesday: Kettle Brand Lightly Salted

On my personal blog, I posted about my newfound love of disposable cameras. I recently bought a simple, cheap Kodak 24-exposure disposable camera, used up the film during a trip to nyc, dropped it off to be developed at Target, and picked them up the next day like we all did in the olden days.

The photos turned out fantastic (take a look). I love the nostalgic feel of the color saturation of the photos and I had almost forgotten the thrill you get when you go to pick up your film and open the envelope to view your photographs for the first time. It's enough to make me want to get a film camera!

Which brings me to the topic of today's Chip Tuesday post: The Classics. Nothing beats the classics. A simple black dress with an up-do will always remain the chicest ensemble a woman can don. Give me Mark Twain over Dan Brown any day. And I will value a handwritten note over the longest, email far more and for far longer, no matter the content.

A friend recently sent me a note typed on her new vintage typewriter. The thought of her rolling her paper into the teeth of the typewriter and clicking out every letter of every word tickled me to the innermost! The Classics! Nothing beats them!

That's why no matter how far I venture to the furthest reaches of chip flavordom, I will always find myself drawn back, like Odysseus longing for Ithaca, to the classic Kettle Brand Lightly Salted potato chip.

A bag of these suckers always reside in my desk drawer so that at any given moment, in a fit of hunger, fury or desire, I can grab a perfect potato chip at arms reach. Much like the aforementioned classic black dress, these babies go with pretty much anything: sandwiches, soup, salad, hummus, chili, burgers, hot dogs, etc. So if you're looking for a chip flavor that will last, a flavor and brand that you can pass down to your kids for generations upon generations, I highly recommend this brand and this flavor. It will never ever disappoint.

**apologies for the generic photo. I didn't have a digital camera on hand.

Chip Tuesday: Boulder Canyon Balsamic Vinegar & Rosemary

This weekend I ventured up to New York to take in the sights, eat the food, and attend one day of the U.S. Open. On Sunday night, in preparation for the tennis festivities of the next day, le boyfriend and I went to his local corner market in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn to pick up some sustenance. Being the tennis nut that he is, Christopher has attended too many U.S. Opens to count, so he knew all the tricks to having the best experience. One key step? Packing your own food. The food on the grounds is insanely overpriced, not that good for you, and not worth waiting in long lines for, so instead, we opted for ham and cheddar sandwiches, fresh melons, peaches, granola, and, of course, chips.

There's one corner market in Ft. Greene that I love. Not only is it run by Koreans (gotta support my peeps!), but it is insanely clean, has one of the best tea collections I've ever seen, and also carries an impressive selection of chips. Knowing Chip Tuesday was approaching, Chris and I carefully scoured the bags to find the next contender for our running tradition. As soon as I saw this bag, I knew it was the one.

Now having been burned by exotic flavored chips before (sweet maui onion, anyone?), I was a little nervous about these. Frankly, one little potato discus can only handle so much flavoring, you know?

Willing to take the risk, we decided to pay the $2.79 and try them. We got home, quickly ripped open the bag, and popped the first chip.

It - was - delicious.

The scent of rosemary hits you first. It's strong, but not overpowering. The chips are surprisingly light in flavor. You let the rosemary and salt, oil and potato impress you for a little bit. And then you realize that this is also a frou frou kind of salt & vinegar chip, but the balsamic is just a little more refined than the aforementioned low-brow, absolutely delicious guilty pleasure that leaves your nose and eyes watering for its strong flavor. Instead, the balsamic is mild with a slight kick at the end.

All in all, the chips made for a complex, tasty, pungent addition to our ham sandwiches, which we ate before watching a rousing match with my new favorite tennis player, the 5'5" Belgian pro, Olivier Rochus. He may be short but he packs quite a lot of punch and heart in that frame of his. And the same could be said of a Boulder Canyon Balsamic Vinegar & Rosemary chip.

Chip Tuesday: Original LantChips

This past weekend, Sassie Cassie and I went on an epic trip to Ikea. In need of random furnishings, rugs, and accessories for our cozy new home, we decided to borrow a coworkers van, get up early, and go to yuppy mecca, pay homage to the scandinavian demigods who create furniture that can be built and broken down with great efficiency, and come home to make our lovely home even lovelier. It was a good plan.

If only things had run so smoothly.

On the way there, driving on the highway, Sassie Cassie approached stopped traffic but was not able to slow down. "Omigod you guys, the brakes! the brakes are not working!" She immediately swerved off an exit and pulled the emergency break. She handled it like a champ, but we were definitely shaken up. Nervous laughter, a detour back onto the highway, a tenuous exit and we were finally at Ikea all in one piece.

Nothing like facing the hooded face and shiny sickle of black death to get you in the mood for some crispy chips that affirm that you are indeed still alive with every crunchy bite. So where else did we go but the Ikea food court? Is there anything better than commercial scandinavian food? No, there isn't.

Behold, I give you Ikea's LantChips.

Thankfully, I didn't have to use a cute little wrench to put this bag together. The flavor is spot on, not too salted, just greasy enough. The texture of the chips are much like kettle-cooked chips-- thick skin, very potato-ey, but not as greasy or heavy as American chips. As a person of the Asian persuasion, I was grateful for the mild flavor. Eaten with a big cup of Lingonberry juice on ice, it was, HAUW YOU SAY ... PERFEKT!

Till next time, everybody.

Chip Tuesday: Sweet Maui Onion

**This is the first in a series of installments called "Chip Tuesdays." Every Tuesday, someone will review a flavor or brand of chips. Why, you ask? Well, because ... chips are the bomb.

After heading down to the optometrist near George Washington University yesterday, I walked out of the medical center with a pair of dilated eyes and a rumbling stomach.

That's when I decided, well by golly, it's almost Chip Tuesday so I better get a move on and eat some chips. I went to the deli next door -- you know, the insanely bougie kind that you would only find downtown, with $8.95 paninis and $1.50 bananas that are still green. My disdain for the place was immediate. That is, until I saw their glorious rack of chips.

Imagine if you will an entire wall rack filled with various kinds of chips. The exotic flavors were abundant: thai chili and lime, southern barbeque, curry, etc. My faint heart leaped for joy. I reached for the bag that appealed to me most: Sweet Maui Onion.

Purchased with an Odwalla smoothie, I was good to go. I hopped in a cab, ripped open the bag, and popped the first chip in my mouth.

Delicious. Amazing. Flavor explosions in my mouth. I couldn't get enough. Sweet overtones of carmelized onion and mango, with a solid base of onion salt, wrapped around perfectly crunchy, kettled cooked chips ... it was as if I had been fed only liquids for my entire life and this was the first time in 26 years that I was given solid foods.

I couldn't even bare to look the cabbie in his rear view mirror as he asked for directives. I just kept stuffing the chips in my mouth, one after another, crunch crunch crunch, mumbling the cross streets I needed to get to with my mouth still full.

And then ... I stopped.

You know how sometimes you just don't listen to your body? I was so hungry and enjoying the crunchy texture of the chips so much that I had completely ignored my taste buds, which, after a while, screamed out, OMG STOP! TOO MUCH!

That's right folks. The romance was that brief. I went from LOVE to HATE in a manner of minutes. The flavor was so overwhelming that I almost gagged. And that's what these chips will do to you. Some bags, you can never have just one (sun chips plain, pringles sour cream and onion, kettle cooked salt and pepper), but others ... one or two is about all you can take.

By the time I got back to the office, I couldn't even look at them. I felt so betrayed.

Sweet Maui Onion, you were not all you said you'd be. You made empty promises. You built me up and then you tore me down. So in the trash you go. It's like I never even knew you.